Vietnam Pilot

Worth Reading: Navy Carrier Pilot Relates His Vietnam Experiences. Author Unknown

http://www.subasepearl.com/pages/Navy_Carrier_Pilot_Relates_His_Vietnam_Experiences Excerpt: As we face a new year, I recall visiting with three old friends, a few years back, at a park in the nation's capital. It seems like only yesterday that we were all together, but actually it has been 42 years. There was a crowd at the park that day, and it took us a while to connect, but with the aid of a book we made it. I found Harry, Bruce and Paul. In 1970-72 we were gung-ho young fighter pilots on the America and Constellation off Vietnam, the cream of the crop of the U.S. Navy, flying F-4J Phantoms. Now their names are on that 500-foot-long Vietnam War Memorial. I am hesitant to visit the wall when I'm in Washington, D. C., because I don't trust myself to keep my composure. Standing in front of that somber wall, I tried to keep it light, reminiscing about how things were back then. We used to joke about our passionate love affair with the inanimate flying objects that we flew. We marveled at the thought that we actually got paid to do it.